Playing with fire
by kashi333
Summary: Reddington and Elizabeth are under cover at a bar. But Elizabeth isn't pleased about having to pretend to be Red's girlfriend. Just a fun one shot.


Authors note: Not really happy with this one, seems to OOC, I apologize for that, just a playful one shot that was playing around in my head.

The sound of laughter, glasses clanking, and voices carrying on every day conversations filled the room. The bar was busy tonight which didn't surprise her seeing as it was a Saturday night. If only she was one of the people laughing and socializing with friends here tonight. She let out an exasperated breath. No instead she was here _working_. This night would have been horrible enough if not for the fact she was partaking in the most devastating undercover situation.

"Lizzie no one will believe our ruse if you have such an unpleasant scowl on your face." Came a voice from beside her and she looked next to her and glared at none other than Raymond Reddington.

"I wouldn't have a scowl if I wasn't a part of this ridiculous operation. I could have just as well been posing as someone else." She hissed her reply under her breath so that it would only be heard by him. It had been Reddingtons idea that she pose as his girlfriend when investigating a lead that guided them to this bar. If the person they were here to meet made contact she would be introduced as Jenny, Reddingtons latest conquest. The thought almost made her grimace. She had made a slip up that almost jeopardized the last case and she would have sworn this was punishment from Cooper. He was more than willing to agree to her alias and it frankly pissed her off.

Reddington, who hadn't even been really paying close attention to her words, had his eyes instead scanning the room as he placed his hand at the small of her back, leading her to a table. She hurriedly sat down, breaking any physical contact with him for which he just gave her a small grin. "Come now Lizzie, all of this eventually leads us to the next name on the list, and really is it so bad? Sharing an evening with a friend here at the bar?" He gave her one of those playful looks, the kind she often thought she would enjoy wiping clean off his face.

However before she could retort a sarcastic comment on how they were not friends, a gentleman slid into a seat at their table, sitting across from Reddington. And as easily as she had ever seen, Reddington slipped into character, smiling at their table guest. "Good evening. It seems the establishment is crowded tonight" He fanned looking around at the surrounding people in the bar only to return his gaze to the man. "Alas my lovely girlfriend insisted on coming to this place. Quite the spot for pleasant exchanges wouldn't you say?"

The man opposite him simply nodded and opened his mouth to reply to what Reddington had said, yet Elizabeth could not comprehend what the words were as she was too focused on the fact that Reddingtons hand had moved towards her. And taking her hand in his he then proceeded to rub his thumb over her knuckles. She also noticed that sometime during their talking before the man had arrived he had somehow moved his chair closer to hers. They were seated extremely close, almost hip to hip. If it wasn't for the fact that she was under cover and schooled her expression she would have had a shocked look on her face. When had he moved so close to her?

She tried to tell herself it was part of the deception and she had to look like Reddingtons girlfriend. That's exactly what she continued to tell herself. That is until Reddington removed his hand from hers. He put his arm behind her back, his hand resting on her hip and he pulled her ever so slightly towards him. That's when she started to tell herself she was going to kill him, what was he playing at? Surely holding her hand was enough evidence that they were involved with each other, the man sitting with them would not be looking to see if this was false or not. This was too much, he was going too far and she had no real way of reprimanding him without blowing their cover. She sent him a subtle look, hoping he would pick up the hint and remove his hand from her person but he only smiled innocently at her and continued talking to the stranger at their table.

Just when she thought it couldn't get worse she had to hold in a gasp by biting her lip as she felt Reddington move his fingers under the edge of her shirt, stroking her bare skin. "Are you alright sweet heart? You seem a bit flushed?" She looked at Reddington and forced a smile on her face, swallowing a string of obscene insults. The man Red was carrying on discussion with was also gazing at her in curiosity. Damn him, she thought to herself. He was messing with her and he thought it was funny. It could be easily seen by the smug look written on his face. Even though a lot depended on this contacts information he still had time to play this twisted game with her. But Elizabeth wasn't about to just let him get away with it. She smiled at Reddington as an idea came to her. She leaned closer to him; a smirk was visible through her sweet smile.

"Oh yes, it must just be because it's so crowed babe, I'm perfectly fine." She even went as far as to smile charmingly towards the man across the table. Reddington nodded dismissively and went back to his conversation. Elizabeth waited patiently, letting a few minutes pass despite still feeling his fingers on her skin. Finally it was time to put her plan into action, turn about was fair play after all. She slowly moved her hand to rest on Reddingtons thigh, making sure to notice if he faltered in his acting performance.

Yet he never missed a beat nor gave any sign that he knew she was up to something. She let another minute pass before she started making small circles with her fingers on his leg. She felt him shift and he gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. If she didn't know any better she would say it was a puzzled expression he almost showed, but it was quickly replaced with a leer as she felt the hand that was at her side move slightly further up her shirt. Two can play that game she thought as she moved her hand higher up his leg. She must have felt more daring than usual because she not only moved her hand further up but also further towards his inner thigh. She felt him tense up, it wasn't visible but she could feel he was beginning to seem unnerved.

Nevertheless he didn't remove his hand from touching her and she decided this game needed to end soon. Was she ready to end it by any means though? She was a married woman and even what she was doing at this moment was pushing it. However she concluded she had to make a point and so she gradually moved her fingers lightly towards his inner groin. Reddington suddenly sucked in a quick breath that made the man he was speaking to stop mid sentence and stare at him.

Elizabeth held back laughter, removing her hand, as Reddington removed his own hand from her side and started to wrap up the loose ends of the conversation, refraining from touching her further.

Later that evening at the bureau he caught her as she was leaving to go home. "Lizzie, I must say I didn't know you had it in you. That was quite naughty of you." She met his gaze; he was grinning, pure amusement on his face. She shook her head and made her way out the door, throwing one last retort over her shoulder. "If you play with fire, you're going to end up getting burned."


End file.
